ICC announces nominees for October Player of the Month awards
India's Virat Kohli, South Africa's David Miller, and Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza have been nominated for the ICC Men's Player of the Month award for October. In the women's category, the young Indian duo of Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues, and Pakistan's veteran all-rounder Nita Dar bagged the nominations.
Kohli was simply spectacular in the four matches he played last month, scoring 205 runs at a strike rate of 150.73 and getting out only once. His exploits started with a 49* off 28 against South Africa in the home bilateral series.
As pressure increased with the start of the T20 World Cup, the 33-year-old's game also reached another level. Against Pakistan, he played a knock for the ages - 82* off 53 - to rescue India from 31/4 and help them chase down 160. He followed it up with a similarly important knock of 62* off 44 against the Netherlands.
In the match where Kohli made 49, David Miller outshone everyone with a majestic 47-ball 106*. He couldn't lead South Africa to a famous win during the Proteas' tour of India, but made up for it with a composed 59* against the Men in Blue at the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The left-handed batter also enjoyed a similar run to the former Indian captain, remaining not out in six of the seven innings, averaging 303 and striking at 146.37.
Raza, meanwhile, stood up as Zimbabwe's main man in the T20 World Cup. Although his Player of the Match spell of 3/25 against Pakistan will remain the most memorable, the all-rounder also picked up three wickets against West Indies, scored a 47-ball 82 and bowled a spell of 1/22 against Ireland and smashed 40 (23) versus Scotland.
Zimbabwe are unlikely to qualify for the semi-finals, but Raza is already one of the players of the tournament and rightly deserves the ICC nomination.
Jemimah and Deepti's Asia Cup performances get them ICC player of the month nomination
Two more Indians shone in October. Rodrigues, 22, was India's best batter and emerged as a crucial batting cog in their Asia Cup win. She played two important knocks in the tournament -76 (53) against Sri Lanka and 75* off 45 against the UAE - both of which earned her the Player of the Match award.
Deepti, who made headlines for the non-striker run-out last month, showed why she's not only a smart but also a skillful cricketer. Her spells of 3/7 and 3/27 against Thailand and Pakistan, respectively, and a knock of 64 (49) against the UAE helped her bag the Asia Cup's Player of the Tournament award and now an ICC nomination.
Dar was also brilliant in the tournament. She amassed 145 runs at an average of 72.50 and also picked up eight wickets at an average of 14.87 in six matches.